An Umbrella Lifts You Up

Artists are never only one thing. Your creativity flows in many directions.  Painters paint abstracts and landscapes, which may turn into abstract landscapes. Sculptors create figures but also make ceramic boxes. Visual artists experiment with sound.

All of this imagination seems natural and right, until your art starts getting criticized or misunderstood. “She hasn’t yet found her voice,” they say; “his work is all over the place.” Galleries are famous for this attitude, asking  artists to present “a coherent body of work.”

So what do you do? Should you stick to one theme, one medium, one process? The answer is a resounding no, but it’s still your job to help viewers understand how your work makes sense as a whole. You don’t need to put yourself in a box, but you might need to find the right umbrella. 

A good umbrella lifts you up (think Mary Poppins). It places your work in a larger context. It can be straightforward, where you have a series of explorations using different media, or different materials. Perri Howard says that her artwork “resides within the emerging genre of New Polar Aesthetics, expressed through painting, drawing, sculpture, and sound.” Sometimes your umbrella is a broad concept. Nina Elder states that she is “an artist and researcher whose work focuses on changing cultures and ecologies.” Even when you focus on one subject, it may express multiple meanings. Janet Jacobs explains: “Light is my primary subject. It is the way we see in the world. It’s how all things grow on the earth, and it is a metaphor for awareness.” 

Remember, Mary Poppins’ umbrella had magical powers. It became her  parachute into new places and a compass pointing her in the right direction. Where will your umbrella take you?